Category: Black History

The contributions of black people are everywhere. Please view this interview of Dr. Ben Carson explaining how to give your kids a Black History lesson just by walking down the street. This video was recorded while Dr. Carson was the Director of Pediatric Surgery at John Hopkins Medical Institutions.

Take this idea further and incorporate other cultural histories on walks with your family, classmates, peers, and co-workers.

My toddler is fascinated with turning the lights on and off when we enter and exit a room. We sometimes go around the house searching for light sources such as the lamp or lights on his toys. Because we have so much fun with light, I decided to teach my son about Lewis Latimer.

Lewis Latimer improved the making of carbon filaments (electric light with a wire filament heated so high that it glows), used in light bulbs to help them last longer. His invention made the light bulb less expensive and made it possible for electric lighting to be put in homes and on the street. Before Mr. Latimer’s improvement, the light bulb only lasted a few days.

One way I help my son understand the importance of Mr. Latimer’s invention is to play the game, Lights Out.

In this game, my son closes his eyes and counts to ten. I then hide one of his toys and my son tries to find it. After my son searches 15 seconds for the toy, I turn off the lights. The 15 seconds represents the short time light bulbs lasted before Mr. Latimer’s invention.

The fun part of this game is to find the toy before the lights go out. My son loves game! I love it too because it teaches the importance of Mr. Latimer’s invention which is longevity of the light bulb!

When I am driving the car and my toddler is the passenger, he loves to use the traffic light signal to tell me when to go and stop. “Go mommy! Green light!” he says. Since February is Black History month, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to teach my son the contributions of black people.

I began by telling my son about Garrett Morgan and why he invented the three-position traffic light signal.

One day, Mr. Morgan was driving and saw a car accident. The accident happened because the traffic light signal switched back and forth between Stop and Go with no warning of slowing down. Mr. Morgan designed the warning signal, which today is the yellow light. The warning signal gives drivers a chance to slow down before stopping. This has decreased many car accidents.

I decided to supplement the lesson with a fun childhood game called Red Light Green Light.

In this game, one person is chosen to be the traffic cop. The other children stand in a line while the traffic cop has his/her back to them. When the cop says “Green Light” the children try to run to the finish line. When the cop calls “Red Light” he/she turns to face the children and the players have to stop.

I explain to my son that this is how people drove their cars before Mr. Morgan’s invention.

We THEN play Red Light, Green Light, Yellow Light. This game includes Mr. Morgan’s warning signal (yellow light). My son realizes it is much easier to stop if there’s a warning signal.

We also play both games with his toy cars. Instead of running, we race the cars around the house.